A CRY OF VICTORY
by Mongaikan
Summary: This is a story i wrote when I first started reading L.J. Smith. Practically, you could say its a story about freindship. ~yeah, I know it sounds lame, but read the story~ Enjoy!


A CRY OF VICTORY  
  
Ash woke with a jolt. Fear gripped him instantly when he couldn't make out his surroundings. It was as if death himself had come to take him to the lad of the dead. It wasn't until Ash heard himself breath a sigh of relief that realization dawned on him. Though he couldn't tell where he was, at least he was alive. A sudden chill swept down his back, where was Thierry? He could almost hear his friend's howl of pain and anguish that had pierced his ears as his '97 forest green Chevy Camero spun out of control and bounced off of something that had hit the passenger's side. It seemed like only hours ago he had been driving home from the State Championship Hockey game. Unknowingly, he drifted into a light dose.  
  
Everyone from Eastwood High was there, cheering on the hockey team in a thunderous uproar that never seemed to end. The Eastwood Panthers and the Harleton Wildcats were at it again. Scuffing up the ice, and sending bits and pieces of it throughout the ring. It was like watching a thriller movie, once you got into it you couldn't get out. As the final seconds of the game ticked by at what seemed like an eternity, the Panthers stole the puck from the Wildcats and whooshed it down the ice to break the tie with a one-point lead. The whole crowd burst out in a clamor that made your heart jump out of your throat and your eardrums buzz. The Panthers had vanquished the Wildcats for the second year in a row. The title was theirs to keep, until next year when a new opponent dared to challenge the undefeated. Theirs was a cry of victory, but all to soon would be quieted.  
  
Ash and Thierry wound their way around the deafening crowd and burst through the exit doors laughing. Everyone was swallowed up in the excitement of the game that they forgot all about the side exits. Racing each other through the thickening snow, the two friends quickly found their car. Driving out onto the highway was no problem. They were one of the first ones out, so they escaped the treacherous traffic that had formulated itself in the parking lot.  
  
Driving through thickened snow was tricky, but neither Ash nor Thierry seemed concerned, until without any warning, Ash saw the whole world twist and turn in every direction possible. The last thing he heard was Thierry's agonizing cry of astonishment before everything went black. It seemed like only a few hours had passed before he had woken up in an unfamiliar room that seemed to burn the nostrils and condense the lungs so one couldn't breathe.  
  
Three weeks after what seemed like a living nightmare, Ash recovered enough to be released from the hospital. On the way home, everyone was quiet. Silence was bearable to a certain point. Trying to speak made Ash's throat burn like fire, and his lungs felt like melting icicles. Not having heard the whereabouts of Thierry, Ash was desperate to find out what had become of his best friend. His voice had betrayed him, but after several unsuccessful tries, some strange alien sound came out of his mouth. Not knowing what to think, he tried again, and at last, triumphed. Through something above a whisper, he asked about Thierry, no one seemed to hear him, or they just ignored him. Defeated at large, Ash sat quietly throughout the rest of the ride home.  
  
Aching from limb to limb, Ash got out of what seemed to have been his prison for the last few days, and slowly but cautiously drove to Thierry's house. Ash had been driving for what seemed like hours, when he finally reached his friends familiar house, but when Zanna, Thierry's sister, opened the door, he got the surprise of a lifetime.  
  
The world seemed to spin at an incredible speed. Then, everything went black. When Ash's eyes fluttered open, he couldn't remember where he was or how he had gotten there, until Zanna told him once again told him once again the grim, heartbreaking news. The thought of having lost his friend forever, pierced Ash's heart like an arrow, and stung like a fresh wound.  
  
On the way home, his troubled mind couldn't ignore the last words that Zanna had said to him. Thierry was dead. Gone forever because he made a mistake. Without paying attention to where he was going, and outraged at his own thoughts, Ash drove on and on until, unexpectedly, found himself at the cemetery. He ran until he couldn't breathe anymore. At long last, he knelt down at his friend's freshly dug grave, and wept. The only words he could utter through his uncontrollable sobs were "I'm sorry." 


End file.
